Rebounding
by ashleezak
Summary: TonyAbby friendship.  Abby helps Tony deal with losing Jeanne.  Spoilers for Bury Your Dead.


Abby Sciuto knew her coworkers. Some she knew better than others. Gibbs, for example. She knew just when to tease, and when to get to work. Timmy was so sweet, and she still wondered if things were just a little bit different if they'd worked out.

So she knew when something was wrong between Tony and Ziva. As soon as he stepped out of the elevator, she knew that he was seriously mad. And Tony just really didn't get angry.

"I'm sorry, but you get a series of strange calls at your desk and you leave with no explanation then come back looking upset, I'd say that there was a reason to investigate," Ziva said, trying to keep up with her partner.

"Hey, Abs," Tony smiled, ignoring Ziva completely.

"Tony, I'm talking to you. Why don't you trust me?" she demanded, grabbing his arm and pulling him away from Abby to face her.

"Since you can't determine between personal life and office life," he said, his voice soft.

Abby stepped in quickly, trying to defuse the situation. "Gibbs send you down?"

Tony turned back to her, grinning at her again, but she could see the storm that was still behind his eyes. "Yeah. He said you had the results on those partials from the car?"

"Yeah." Turning to the computer, she tried to ignore the stony look Ziva was giving her. "AFIS spit up a match. Captain Roger Gibbs. Yes, I checked. No relation."

"Thanks, Abs." He turned to leave, ignoring Ziva.

"Tony! Wait!"

Abby sat in the sudden silence of their departure, confused by the whole situation. She knew that Tony was fond of Ziva, even if he was a little leery of truly pissing her off. Ziva seemed obsessed with Tony, to the point that she'd tracked his phone calls and hospital visits.

Frowning, she sipped her Caf-Pow slowly. Everyone had been a little upset since they'd discovered Tony's undercover work for the Director. Jenny had gotten the cold shoulder since they'd watched Tony's car blow up. They'd all been terrified, and Timmy had even broken down a little in her lab. She'd hugged him tight as she tried her best to keep her own tears at bay. Frankly, he'd beaten the odds so many times that she couldn't bring herself to think that he'd lost.

Smacking herself on the forehead, she spun around in her seat and began furiously typing away. If Tony was upset, then chances were that it had to do with Jeanne Benoit. Abby seriously thought that she was the only one who wasn't truly surprised that Tony had finally gotten serious about a woman. She knew Gibbs knew about her, but she didn't know what his opinion was. Although if he were smart, then he would encourage Tony to go after her. The last thing NCIS needed was another version of Gibbs.

Checking Tony's incoming phone calls, she quickly got the picture. Then she hid the evidence of her hacking, because the men in her life were not stupid. One of them would know what she'd done.

The mass spec beeped impatiently, so she checked the readout and quickly transferred the information up to the display up in the bullpen. Taking the elevator, she dashed out to Gibbs' desk.

"All right. You know that weird goopy stuff you guys got off of the windshield of Capt. Gibbs' car?"

"Yes, Abs."

"Well, it's bird doo."

McGee groaned. "Thanks, Abby. That's all we needed to know."

"Actually, it is," she chirped. She grabbed the remote and brought up her own information. "This bird doo is composed of a very specific combination of wild berries and cherries."

"And this means what?" Gibbs asked impatiently.

She clicked again, bringing up a topographical map of the area. "What this means is that the bird that sat over this car lived in this area." She highlighted a small area just outside of Arlington. "The wild raspberries grow every where, but this," and she pointed to a dot in the highlighted area, "Is where the only cherry orchard in the county is located."

"That's consistent with where the GPS signal died, boss," McGee said, typing furiously on his computer. "If I can just triangulate…" He trailed off, staring intently at the monitor.

Gibbs gave her a quick squeeze. "Good job, Abs."

She caught his eye and glanced at Tony, who'd been unusually quiet at his desk during this briefing. He looked back at her and nodded.

"Got it, boss," McGee said, grabbing the post-it with the coordinates and heading for the door.

"McGee, Ziva, you're with me." Gibbs looked at Tony who stared up at him in surprise. "Abby's got something for you, Tony. We've got this."

He blinked before backing down. Looking toward Abby, Tony missed the look that Ziva flashed him, but Abby saw it. She stood by Gibbs' desk until the three were in the elevator. Grabbing Tim's chair, she scooted it over to Tony's desk.

"I'll go with you, if you want to."

He leaned back in his chair, clasping his hands behind his head as he looked at her. "And where is it that we're going?" he asked charmingly.

"To return it."

The shallow smile faded slowly. Sitting up straight and staring at his computer, he said coolly, "I shouldn't be surprised you know."

"Tony, honestly, I just want to help."

"I know, Abby, and I think that's what makes it hard." He sighed, dropping his head. "She asked me to choose."

Abby gasped. "How dare she! I mean, that's not fair!"

"That's the thing, Abby. It is fair." He turned his blue eyes on her, and Abby felt tears well up. "She fell in love with someone else. Tony DiNardo wasn't the same as me."

"Tony, that's a load of crap. If you fell in love, then it was you. You're not different people."

"Tony DiNardo didn't have the plague. Tony DiNardo never worried about getting shot, or worse, getting the woman he loved shot!" Tony ran his hand through his hair. "She's a wonderful woman. Anyone would be lucky to have her."

Abby frowned. "What you're saying that anyone but you is lucky to have her."

"I lied to her. I don't deserve her."

"Did you know that you'd fall for her when you started the cover?"

"No."

"And now that Tony DiNardo is completely gone, do you still love her?"

"Yes."

She crossed her arms. "Then it's settled. What's the problem?"

"I was actually tempted."

Her mouth fell open soundlessly. "Oh."

"Yeah."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the small velvet box. "Watching my parents spend every spare minute fighting, I swore I'd never get married." He opened it and stared at the simple emerald ring. "Guess I should've listened to myself."

"Don't take it back."

"What?" he asked, startled. "What's the point in keeping it?"

Abby smiled. "Two reasons. One, she might come back. Give her time to get over the situation. Two, even if she doesn't come back, that doesn't mean that you won't use it. I can't believe that I'm telling _you _this, but there are other fish in the ocean."

He laughed. "Could you imagine what Kate would've made of this? I mean, me actually, you know."

"You can't even say it," Abby laughed, slapping him on the arm. "Listen. She would've had a hard time believing it, but she would've been happy for you."

"She'd have scared Jeanne off."

"Yeah, that too." Abby leaned over and kissed him soundly on the cheek. "Listen. My place, scary movie marathon, Chinese. I'm buying."

He sat silently for a long moment before closing the box and slipping it back into his pocket. "You're on. You do have Saw, don't you?"

"Of course."


End file.
